Damaged
by Longing for Oblivion
Summary: After being attacked by a suspect Angell's in a coma - causing her friends to go through hell.When she finally wakes up everybody relaxes. But before the good news have even sunk in they have to face the fact that the drama isn't over yet - it just begun!


_**Discs.:** __As already mentioned numerous times before - I don't own the show nor its characters!_

_**Summary:** __After being attacked by a suspect Angell's in a coma - causing her friends to go through hell. Especially Flack has a tough time dealing with what has happened, considering how much she means to him. When she finally wakes up after a felt eternity everybody dares to breathe again. But before the good news have even sunk in completely they have to face the fact that the drama isn't over yet - in fact it just begun!_

_**Genres:** __Tragedy, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Friendship, Angst, Suspense - take ur pick coz there's something for everybody in this story_

_**Pairing:** __Flangell (Flack and Angell for those who don't know)_

_**Spoilers:**__ Well, considering that this takes place some time after "Prey" you should have a general idea of the events up to that episode._

_**Warnings:** __Character near death, maybe violence and smut later (I'll let ya know specifics as they come up)_

_**A/N:** __I actually first thought about using this story-line for a "Numb3rs" story but recently changed my mind and decided to make it a "CSI NY" fanfic. It's been on my mind for like an eternity, but considering that I have already so many unfinshed stories I thought it might be better to focus on those stories first before starting with a new one. On the other hand I might forget what I wanted to write if I keep waiting and furthermore someone once told me that there's nothing wrong with paying intention to several muses simultaneously, so I simply chose to already start with writing this...Hope you're gonna like it!_

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**Damaged**

_Prologue_

Angell couldn't keep a smile from appearing on her face as she felt Flack's lips brushing softly over her right shoulder-blade. Turning her head toward him her smile widened as he leaned closer and kissed her tenderly.

As their kiss became more and more passionate she turned completely to him and Flack wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer to him. It didn't take long before she found herself on her back and she couldn't help but grin cheerfully against his lips.

She couldn't deny that despite the fact that she had first been reluctant to get involved with him, she was incredibly grateful that she had eventually listened to her heart and just given in. After all, she knew how much Flack loved her and he was making her happy like nobody else could probably ever manage.

A moment later her eyes flew shut when Flack began trailing kisses down the side of her throat. However, only a moment later she opened her eyes again and let out a frustrated groan as a cell phone started ringing.

Flack made a face, but sat up nonetheless so she could get her cell from the nightstand. However, before she had the chance to answer the call he grabbed the phone from her hand and grinned as he answered the call,

"Sorry, but Jess is currently not available."

_"Flack?" _His smile faded at the sound of the irritated voice of their boss.

"Captain..." Flack stated, a trace of guilt etched to his voice and a slightly contrited expression appearing on his face.

_"I'm not gonna bother to even start with telling you why..." _Carlisle paused and Flack could almost see the Captain shake his head in resignation,

_"Never mind. Since I would have called you anyways in a few minutes I can also tell you now... There's a new case, a big case to be more precisely, so get over to the scene asap." _

"Got it." With that he hung up.

"What did he say?" Angell inquired, and Flack could tell that she wasn't the least pleased about what he had done - after all, she had emphasized numerous times that she'd prefer it if people at work didn't know 'bout them.

"There's a new case..." He paused, reaching for her cheek. When she pulled away he sighed and pointed out, his voice soft,

"Listen Jess, it's an open secret that we're seeing each other - you know that as well as I do. And to be honest, I'm tired of sneaking around during work, pretending that we're just friends - even though basically the entire precinct knows that it's just an act."

"Flack..." She started, but went silent again and simply got up to take a shower, after all, they had that conversation about at least a dozen times by now and she had no intention to repeat it for another time.

"Jess..." He got a hold of her hand, causing her to look back at him.

"Look Don, like you just said - there's a new case. We gotta get ready for work..." She stated and they locked eyes. A moment later her facial expression softened and she said seductively,

"Wanna share a shower?"

Flack only grinned and got up.

_At the crime scene :_

As they pulled almost simultaneously up in front of the apartment-building Angell couldn't help but roll her eyes as she saw Flack stop at the entrance and wait for her. Letting out a sigh she opened the door of her car and got out, even though she had planned on waiting for a moment in her car.

"Why are you doing this?" She inquired the moment she had reached him.

"Do what?" Flack asked innocently.

Angell glared in mock-anger at him and stated,

"Don't act the fool here, Flack - you know _**exactly**_ what I mean. Is it currently on your agenda to add even more fuel to the goddamn gossip mill?"

"I only waited for you 'cause I wanted to be polite...It's something friends do, you know? Waiting for each other and stuff like that..." He defended himself.

Angell only let out an annoyed sound and chose to simply head inside instead of replying to that. She heard how Flack let out a heavy sigh, but refused the urge to turn around again.

Following her quickly Flack got softly a hold of her wrist, causing her to stop and turn to look at him.

"Listen Jess, I know you're mad at me because of earlier, but..." He started, causing her to let her head and shoulders hang.

Eventually she interrupted,

"I'm not mad at you, Don, really...It's just..." She paused, searching for words, before she stated,

"I dunno...I mean, I don't like sneakin' around like this either, but I also don't want people to get the wrong idea about our relationship. I don't want people to think that this is just about getting a promotion or what-so-ever..."

"Jess..." Flack began, but went silent as he saw the expression on her face.

"It would be something different if I wasn't two pay-grades under you, but I _**am**_ and no matter how hard I try - I just _**can't**_ ignore the fact that there are people who will only see a third-grade detective who wants to sleep her way up the ladder in me if they find out that we're seeing each other."

"Come on, Jess...Everybody knows that you're one hell of a detective - that you're even better as some of the guys. And these people know that just as well as I do - the only reason why they make up stuff like that is because they know that one day _**you **_will outrank _**them**_..." Flack pointed out and smiled at her,

"Just don't listen to the rumors, okay? After all, what does it matter to you what some pathetic, insecure guys think...And honestly I'm quite sure that most people probably won't even care 'bout it..."

Angell smirked for a few seconds then she inquired, a doubtful expression on her face,

"You seriously believe that, Flack?"

"Yeah...Besides nobody would dare messing with you, 'cause they _**know**_ that they'll get their poor little asses kicked if they do." At that she chuckled softly and he added,

"I think we should better get up there and focus on the case..."

"True..." She agreed and they shared a smile before heading eventually to the third floor, where the bodies had been found.

_Two hours later at the precinct :_

Sitting down at her desk Angell couldn't help but release a heavy sigh. Damn, she _**hated**_ cases like this! Five victims, the crime scene was a complete mess, no witnesses - so far they didn't even know the identity of the vics, it was goddamn frustrating...

"You're okay?" She heard Flack ask.

"Yeah, I just wish we had already some sort of lead." Angell replied, keeping her eyes shut.

She could feel his eyes on her and couldn't help but smile. Eventually her mind drifted off to the conversation she had with Mac before leaving the scene. He had told her that, considering the amount of potential evidence they had found, it would probably take them quite a while to examine everything.

For a moment she was tempted to get up and head to the lab to ask him if they had already found something and if they hadn't if he knew how much longer it would take. However, there were two things that spoke against doing that - first of all, she had loads of phone records to look through and most of all she knew _**exactly**_ how Mac would reply.

He would smile at her and tell her in his best "teacher-voice" something like _'Angell, don't try to rush science. If you do, mistakes are made and the entire case gets jeopardized.'_ At that thought she couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Flack wanted to know.

"Eh, nothing..." Angell mumbled, opening her eyes again, after all, she should really focus on the task at hand.

As she looked at Flack she saw that he was giving her a doubtful glance, but before he was able to say something to her in response another officer approached them and said,

"Hey Flack, the Captain wants to talk with you asap."

They exchanged a glance, then Flack sighed and got up. Watching him walk away Angell couldn't help frowning. But only a moment later she forced herself to focus her attention on the phone records of the victims, hoping that she might find something useful.

_Carlisle's office :_

Hearing a knock at his door Aaron Carlisle looked up from the file he had been reading and stated,

"Come in..."

The door opened and Flack entered his office.

"You wanted to talk with me?"

"Indeed..." Carlisle replied and watched the younger man walk further into the room,

"How is it going with the case?"

"Slow...It will still take a while 'til we're gonna get any results from the lab." Flack replied,

"However, in the meantime Angell and I will take a look at their phone records, however we still don't know for sure who they are..."

"Okay...I assume the canvass of the area was pretty much a waste of time?"

"Yeah..." Seeing Carlisle nod slightly Flack frowned and after a moment of consideration he asked,

"Did you just ask me to come here because of the case?"

"Yes." The Captain looked straight into his face and asked,

"What other reason would I have had to wanna talk with you beside the case?" As Carlisle went on there was an expression on his face which ranged somewhere between disappointment and severity,

"Let me make one thing very clear - ever since I got my first leading position with the Marines I always had a _**very**_ strict policy to not get involved into the private lives of the people working under me, and I don't have any intention to change that. I don't care what any of you do when off the clock - unless it begins to interfere with work, am I understood, Detective?"

"Yes, Captain." Flack said.

"Good, then get back to the case - and keep me posted on your progress." Carlisle stated and Flack left.

Heading back to his desk he couldn't deny that he felt somehow relieved, coming to the conclusion that you could certainly work for worse people than Aaron Carlisle - though you certainly didn't want to mess with this man...

Shaking slowly his head he sat down on his chair and was already about focusing on the files on his desk when Angell wanted to know,

"What did Carlisle want?"

"He just asked how it's going with the case." Flack replied and smiled at her,

"You found something interesting so far?"

"Actually I did..." Angell stated, grabbed a file and got up. As she had reached him she added,

"Take a look at this." With that she handed him the file.

Taking it from her hand and looking it through Flack frowned for a moment then he pointed out,

"That one number keeps popping up more and more frequently in the passed three months..."

"Exactly...I'm already trying to find out whose number that is, but considering that it doesn't seem like I'm gonna have any luck with that I'm probably gonna head to the lab in a few and see if they got more luck..." Angell told him.

"Yeah, right..." Flack said and smirked, before pointing his index-finger at her and saying,

"You just want to have an excuse for not looking through these files any longer - admit it."

"As if..." Angell retorted and grabbed the file from his hands,

"See ya later."

Watching her leave Flack shook slightly his head, before releasing a sigh and deciding that considering that there was no way to avoid looking through the rest of the phone records he might as well could simply get it done right away.

_At the lab, about twenty-five minutes later :_

Stepping out of the elevator Angell couldn't help wondering if the CSIs had already found out who the victims actually were - or had been, either way she wanted to know their identities asap. After all, as long as they didn't know who these five people were they won't be able to figure out who could've had a motive to want them dead and that meant they won't be able to find any suspects - and that fact was beginning to get seriously on her nerves.

As she had reached Mac's office she knocked softly against the open door and stated,

"Hey Mac..."

The sound of her voice caused the leader of the crime lab to look up from the file he had been reading and a small smile appeared on his face. Getting up from his seat he wanted to know,

"Angell...What brings you here?"

"Well, first of all I found something interesting in the phone records of the vics." Angell replied and handed him the file as he stopped in front of her. While Mac took a look through the pages she explained,

"You see, there's a number that appears quite often, the problem is I can't seem to find out whose number it is..."

"I'll have Adam take a look at it. Anything else?" Mac gave her a questioning glance.

"I was wondering if you already got some results - and most of all if you already identified the victims."

At that Mac nodded slightly and told her,

"Actually, I just got a call from Sid. He isn't done yet with the autopsies, but as he took the victims' finger-prints and ran them through the data-base he got for all five matches in AFIS. I was just about to head for autopsy..."

"Mind if I tag along?" She inquired.

"Not at all." Mac assured and they left his office. As they walked through the the hallway he added,

"I'll just give those phone records to Adam and tell him to see if he can find out whose number that is."

Angell nodded and couldn't help but hope that the lab tech would have more luck than she had had.

_A few minutes later, autopsy :_

As they approached Sid the ME looked up from the body he was currently examining and a surprised expression crossed his face as he saw Angell.

"You said you identified the victims?" Mac inquired.

"I did...Here..." He handed Mac a file.

"You found anything interesting yet?" Mac asked while taking a look through the file.

"Not exactly...However, I'm quite sure that my findings will confirm the results of Sheldon's first examination at the scene. They all have only one injury - and that's the gun-shot between the eyes." Sid told them,

"I'll let ya know when I'm done..."

Seeing Mac nod Sid focused his attention back on the autopsy of one of the victims, while Mac and Angell went to leave.

As they left the morgue Angell wanted to know,

"So, who were these five men?"

"Well, the Latino's name's Ray Alvarez, he was 32 years old and had a record for drug-dealing, numerous assaults, armed robbery - and that are only the crimes of which he was convicted. The two Caucasian guys were Scott Anderson, 26, and Tony Proctor, 37, both drug-dealers, both involved in smuggle and Proctor was arrested for manslaughter but was acquitted. Then we got a Charles Davids, aged 24, he was convicted of rape, assaults, attempted murder...And last but not least Dan Tao, another drug-dealer, he was 35." Mac told her. Just as he had trailed off his cell phone started ringing and he hurried to answer the call,

"Yeah." He listened for a moment,

"We're right there." With that he hung up, looking at Angell he said,

"Adam got something for us."

"Glad to hear that..." Angell stated and followed Mac to the A/V lab.

Once there Mac asked right away,

"What do ya got for us?"

"Well, I got good news and I got bad news." Adam said in response,

"Which do ya wanna hear first?"

"The good news, Adam." Mac replied, sounding slightly impatient.

"I managed to find out whose number that his. It belongs to a woman named Cheryl Warner."

"And what are the bad news?" Angell inquired.

"The woman doesn't only live in San Diego, she's also seventy-nine years old." Adam paused,

"I mean, of course she could really have called these five man, but I'd say that's quite unlikely, right? It's by far more likely that we're dealing here with a cloned cell phone..."

"Great, so basically, that damn phone number is a dead end?" Angell pointed out, a trace of anger etched to her voice.

"Unfortunately yes." Adam admitted,

"However, I can try to trace the cloned phone when it's being used again..."

"Sounds at least like a plan..." Mac agreed.

After a moment of silence Angell said,

"Well, I should get back to the precinct and help Flack with the background checks..." Seeing Mac nod she turned and left.

_At a warehouse, 8:30 the next morning :_

After they had entered the warehouse they quickly split up to be able to search for the suspects faster. Seeing in the corner of her eye a movement Angell turned around and headed into that direction it didn't take long before she saw one of their suspects.

Pursuing him to the second floor of the old warehouse she let out a heavy sigh. Even though she hated to admit it - she had trouble keeping up with the guy, and for the first time in her life she reconsidered if her beloved boots were really a good choice of footwear for her line of work.

However, only a few seconds later she pushed that thought away reminding herself of the fact that she should better focus her attention on the task at hand instead of thinking about something insignificant as her footwear.

As she had reached the second floor she quickly turned left, having seen the suspect heading into that direction.

After a few minutes Angell stopped having lost sight of the suspect. She was already about letting out a curse when the guy appeared like out of thin air a few feet away from her. He pointed a gun at her and shot, the bullet missing her barely by an inch.

She immediately started firing back, but missed as one of the next shots of the suspect hit her left shoulder, the impact causing her to stumble backwards against the railing. However, forcing herself to ignore the burning pain which was rushing from her shoulder throughout her entire body, she shot another few times at the suspect. Only a few seconds later a second bullet hit her into the abdomen, just beneath the rim of her bulletproof-vest, the impact of the second bullet enough to send her over the rather low railing and a scream escaped her as she fell.

_Meanwhile :_

Scanning thoroughly his surroundings Flack tried to catch a glimpse of one of their suspects and it didn't take long 'til he saw one of the men. He immediately went after the guy, who had started running away the moment he had noticed Flack.

After some time of following the suspect Flack slowed slightly down as he heard shots being fired. Even though he tried to ignore the urge to find out what was going on, he instinctively turned to look into the direction where the shots had come from and froze at the sight of Angell staggering backwards against the railing that went around the gallery.

Only a moment later several more shots rang through the air and he felt his world shatter as he saw Angell flinch.

"_**JESS!**_" Flack exclaimed shocked and started running, just as she tumbled over the railing. The suspect he had been pursuing completely forgotten, all he could think about was that this just couldn't be happening...

_Tbc_

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_**A/N:**__ I hope you liked this! I gotta admit that this chapter turned out quite different than I had intended especially length-wise (but I just couldn't help it ya know), and to be honest I'm not quite satisfied with the end, but well...Anyways, please take the time to REVIEW! _


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